This invention relates to a harvesting apparatus for row crops and, more particularly, to an apparatus for cutting and conveying tobacco in which the leaves of the tobacco are substantially undamaged during cutting and conveying of the tobacco.
Many row crops such as tobacco must be handled very delicately during harvesting to prevent damage to the leaves. Crops such as tobacco are typically cut by hand with a machete. The tobacco leaves are then often allowed to wilt in the sun for a day or so to reduce the amount of bruising and breaking of the tobacco leaves as the plant is handled. Once the plant has sufficiently wilted, the plants are speared with a stick and hung in a curing or drying barn. A major drawback of prior art tobacco harvesting methods is the large amount of labor and, therefore, cost associated with such methods. Even though methods of harvesting have been developed whereby workers ride along on a tractor and cut tobacco stalks as they go, each stalk must still be individually harvested by hand, making it virtually impossible to harvest the crop without a large number of low paid workers.
Although automated devices have been created for many row crops such as corn, soybeans, and oats, such machines are typically too abrasive for harvesting tender produce such as tobacco leaves. These devices, therefore, cannot be used in harvesting such crops. Reducing the labor involved in harvesting tobacco, while preventing damage to the leaves during harvest is, accordingly, desirable.
The difficulties in the prior art tobacco harvesting apparata are substantially eliminated by the present invention.